“What’s going on? Maiana looked at Ariante with a bewildered expression, then turned to Lady Alt.

“Swan and Sylas are fighting? Why?”

As if Ariante knew this wasn’t the time to talk about it, she grabbed Maiana’s hand and started pulling her forcefully.

“Hurry, let’s go!”

Following Ariante, who ascended the stairs like a squirrel, Maiana, and then Lady Alt, climbed the stairs one by one. Indeed, as the commotion from Ariante’s room echoed, Maiana quickly recognized it as the crying sound of Crony.

“Don’t fight! I said don’t fight!”

When Maiana rushed into the room, Crony was rolling on the floor crying. Luzian and Umbrose were staring wide-eyed at the unfamiliar sight, and Sisi didn’t know what to do, standing stiffly by the table.

“Doyeondims, stop it! Agh!”

Venthy was trying to tear the two apart from the middle of the chaos but got a punch from Swan—originally aimed at Sylas—right on her solar plexus. Though Ivy tried to lift them with all her strength, it was not enough.

“Cancel it! Cancel those words!”

Sylas pushed Swan away with a strong shove, shouting. At the moment Swan, with a face widened in shock, was about to shove Sylas back, Maiana intervened, pushing their foreheads apart with her palms.

“Stop! Both of you, stop it!”

It was a difficult task to block the struggling ten-year-olds with one hand each, but Maiana quickly gestured to Ivy and Venthy. It meant to stop Swan.

The two rushed towards Swan and almost embraced him. Bewildered Venthy tried to cover Swan’s eyes, and it looked like she was trying to prevent an excited speech.

“Sylas! What on earth are you doing!”

Lady Alt exclaimed, shocked. Her voice, which had never scolded her son before, trembled like a small bird crying. Sylas calmed down a bit only when he heard his mother’s voice, but he still glared at Swan like an angry bull.

“What on earth is going on? Sylas! Why were you fighting with Swan?”

Lady Alt said again. Sylas glanced at his mother, then sullenly went silent, but his gaze was as sharp as when he looked at Swan. Checking Swan’s condition by turning her head, Maiana found that he wasn’t much different from Sylas.

Maiana said, “Swan.”

Swan’s shoulders twitched. Maiana waited for the defiant breathing to calm down a bit and then spoke again in a calm voice.

“Swan.”

Swan raised his head and looked at Maiana. It was a pleading gaze, but Maiana asked in a somewhat stern voice.

“Why did you fight with Sylas?”

Protruding his lower lip, Swan glared at Sylas, then looked back at Maiana, and in a disgruntled voice, muttered.

“I hit Sylas first.”

Maiana, Lady Alt, and the children’s eyes, which were staring at Swan, shifted at once to Sylas. Sylas did not deny Swan’s words, but there was a somehow triumphant expression on his face.

“If that’s true, the one who was wrong first is you, Swan, right?”

Maiana said, and Swan exploded.

“But still, he started it!”

The voice that had raised an outcry now exhaled a sob, and his shoulders shook greatly. It was an expression of injustice.

Looking at Swan with eyes mixed with affection and reproach, Maiana continued.

“Whatever the reason, if you raised your hand first, you need to apologize. Will you do that?”
Swan’s lips quivered. Maiana thought Swan might be more stubborn, but—how could one easily calm down an emotionally charged ten-year-old?—Swan glanced at Sylas with a glare, then turned away and muttered.

“Sorry.”

A sigh escaped. It was Lady Alt’s voice. Sylas reacted first. As Maiana looked at Sylas, whose expression became more complicated, she asked again.

“Why did Swan hit you, Sylas?”

Sylas, exhaling a deep breath not befitting a ten-year-old, answered in a subdued voice.

“It’s my fault. I made Swan angry first.”

“Really? How?”

Sylas, who had hesitated, glanced at his mother and then answered in a creeping voice.

“Swan said he could never marry Ariante.”

Unexpected. Maiana thought. When she looked at Lady Alt, she found her looking down at her just like Maiana. She thought it would be just a trivial quarrel, and never expected such a topic to come up out of the blue.

“Exactly how did… such a story come up?”

When Maiana asked, Swan, looking unfairly at Venthy and Ivy, pushed them aside and stepped forward.

“Sylas said that. He said he would marry Ariante when he grows up. So, I asked him how he knows that. There’s still plenty of time until he’s big enough to get married, and no one knows what will happen in the future. Right?”

That’s right. We’re both smart. Maiana thought. It’s amazing how a ten-year-old can understand the volatility of the future so well…

Swan continued talking.

“For example, Ariante might end up liking someone else and marry that person! Not Sylas.”

That’s a valid point. Maiana nodded. Just as she was about to nod, Sylas glared at Swan over her shoulder.

“Yeah, that’s right. But since that person won’t be you, Swan?”

“Sylas!”

Although Lady Alt scolded her son in a small voice, it seemed that the sound did not reach Sylas’s ears this time. Then Swan shouted again.